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[jesseweiss]

All of a sudden lost 5 channels into mains at last night's gig. Had signal, other channels were fine, and troublesome channels worked in aux busses. After a few minutes of searching, just used different channels and were good to go.

It's possible it was a glitch and reinitializing will fix it, but if it's an issue with the board I may look to replace rather than repair.

If that happens I'm open to upgrading, so here are thoughts.

If we stay with the stage box form factor I'm considering:

Replace XR18 - cheap and easy
Mackie new DL series- 32= more channels
Qu-SB - upgrade features plus expandable
X32 Rack - upgrade features plus expandability

The band does seem to like the rack form factor, although it does make them less involved in setup (they don't seem to want to learn). So there's the option of an X32 or similar with digital snake option.

We're just a weekend warrior 4 piece cover band, although we do some outdoor community gigs and sometimes have other musicians and singers with us. 2 guitars, bass, drums (sometimes acoustic/sometimes my ekit), and all 4 of us sing.

Thoughts?

[Jeff Lelko]

I’ll throw in a solid vote for a Qu-PAC.  A standout feature to me compared some other offerings is that you can run the unit from the front panel touchscreen.  That can be a lifesaver if you lose WiFi or suspect network problems.  I was very happy with mine for what I did with it.  Hope this helps!

[Tim Hite]

I was a fan of the MR12, but I recently bought a UI24 on sale and I'm in love with the improvement in sound quality. Also, has a built in web server and runs on HTML and not an app, so it's device agnostic.

The built in wifi still sucks.

[Robert Lunceford]

I have a QU-PAC which I carry as a back up for my QU24. As was stated, the ability to run the unit from the front panel makes these units stand apart from the other rack mount mixers.
I play in a 5 piece band and when I run sound from the stage I use a QSC TouchMix 16. It is very compact and the form factor is great for an on stage mixer. It is much easier to navigate from the built in control panel compared to the QU PAC.
TouchMix comes with a USB wifi dongle that gives you all the mixer's functions on iPAD control. It also has the ability to multi track record to a USB drive.

[Dave Garoutte]

Soundcraft UI24

[Tim McCulloch]

First I'd determine what happened to those 5 channels.  It's *very* unlikely that you'd loose only 5 - input circuits tend to get built in groups of 2, 4, or 8... so the odd number is a red flag that this more likely pilot error than electronic failure.

Do you have a pre-issue show file saved on a USB stick?  I'd do a full factory re-set of the mixer and see if those channels come back (my guess is yes).  Then reload the saved file and see if the channels remain active.

As there are almost no user-adjustable controls to fail your mixer is likely still under warranty so if it really did fail, call the Lost Wages CARE facility and get an RMA for the repair/replacement.

If your band is accustomed to the work flow, replacing it with an X32 Rack would be the logical step.

[jesseweiss]

I agree Tim. Channels 1-4 went out which made me worried, but when I moved vocals to 5-8, just 7 was out.

I have scenes saved on my laptop and online so I'm definitely going to start with total reinitialize, test, and then reload scenes and retest.

I didn't think to try a different scene or snapshot since I have several! Heat of the moment stress, etc... since this happened at the very end of sound check and a few minutes before we were supposed to start.  Was working fine for about 30 minutes and then boom.

We don't play so often that I can't easily rebuild scenes and snapshots if needed.

[William Schnake]

If we stay with the stage box form factor I'm considering:

Replace XR18 - cheap and easy
Mackie new DL series- 32= more channels
Qu-SB - upgrade features plus expandable
X32 Rack - upgrade features plus expandability

I will go against the grain.  One of our mixers is an X32 Rack that we purchased back in April of 2014.  We have not had any problems with it.  We do only use it about 40 days or so a year.  As I said no problems and I love the flexibility. 

Bill

[Jay Marr]

Very interesting.  I don't have the XR18, but a friend of mine does, and he had a very similar problem last week.
He said he all of a sudden lost a couple channels on his XR18.  He didn't tell me which channel numbers, but he just pulled the cable and put into another channel and it was fine.  He had input signal.  I told him to check the routing, etc.
Was there a recent firmware upgrade to the XR series?

If you're looking to replace, I love the X32 features (I have 3 of them).
I would love to try a Ui24, but really need true Xover filters for me to abandon the X32.

[Tim McCulloch]

I will go against the grain.  One of our mixers is an X32 Rack that we purchased back in April of 2014.  We have not had any problems with it.  We do only use it about 40 days or so a year.  As I said no problems and I love the flexibility. 

Bill

That's been my personal experience as well.  Purchased mid-2015.

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